HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SUPPORTIVE OF A “FREE(R) CULTURE”

Mia Garlick, February 17th, 2006

Budapest, Hungary & San Francisco, USA — February 15, 2006

Creative Commons Hungary, a collaboration between Center for Media Research and Education, and the nonprofit organization Creative Commons, is pleased to highlight the recent release by acting Hungarian Prime Minister Mr. Ferenc Gyurcsany and his publisher Napvilag of Mr. Gyurcsany’s recent book “Utkozben” (In Transit) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. This license clearly signals to members of the public that they are free to download and redistribute the book provided they do so noncommercially and with attribution.

“Utkozben” summarizes Mr. Gyurcsany’s political philosophy and outlines his new Hungarian social democratic program. The book is available from the publisher’s website.

Mr. Gyurcsany’s book comes in the wake of comments by the Hungarian Culture Minister Mr. András Bozóki to the meeting of the Inclusive Europe Conference of European Ministers of Culture held in Budapest in November 2005 in which Mr. Bozóki acknowledged that “[a]ccess to culture is often faced with limitations posed by contemporary copyright regimes” and recommended that “we should begin a process of finding creative ways to rethinking our intellectual property system that we inherited from the last centuries.” Mr. Bozóki specifically identified Creative Commons as one of the initiatives that “widen[s] access to culture in the public domain, in the public interest, and contribute[s] to the competitiveness of European cultural products.” (For a copy of the speech see this page).

Balazs Bodo of the CC Hungary project team said “In the global market of cultural goods, Creative Commons and the free culture approach are essential tools to maintain the cultural heritage for such small and marginal cultures as the Hungarian. With it Hungarian cultural goods are not only technically available but legally accessible as well.”

About The Center for Media Research and Education (MOKK)

The Center for Media Research and Education (MOKK) was founded in 2002 as a joint effort of the Department of Sociology and Communication at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the leading Hungarian telecommunication company, Hungarian Telecom, with the aim of furthering multi-disciplinary research and education in the field of new media in Hungary. MOKK is built around the conviction that it is impossible to understand the sociocultural effects of new technologies without taking into account their technical foundations and attributes—and equally, that in order to develop successful new media applications one needs to understand the sociocultural context of their use. For more information about MOKK, visit their site.

About Creative Commons

A nonprofit corporation founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation. For general information, visit their site.

Contact

Balazs Bodo (Budapest)

CC Hungary

Email

Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)

Creative Commons International

Email

Press Kit

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS REMIX CONTEST EXTENDED UNTIL MARCH 14

Eric Steuer, February 15th, 2006

New Vocal Samples from Chuck D and George Clinton Made Available for Use

San Francisco, CA, USA – February 15, 2006

Creative Commons, along with filmmakers Kembrew McLeod and Ben Franzen, today announced that due to overwhelmingly positive response, the Copyright Criminals Remix Contest has been extended by two weeks, ending on March 14. Additionally, new vocal samples from influential rapper Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and pioneering funk musician George Clinton (of Parliament-Funkadelic) have been made available for use in the competition.

Winners will be chosen according to the same criteria as originally announced; no other contest details are changed.

The Copyright Criminals Remix Contest encourages producers, DJs, and remixers from around the world to use audio snippets from the upcoming documentary film Copyright Criminals in new, original songs. One winner will have his/her music featured prominently in the final edit of Copyright Criminals. The winning track, along with 11 runners-up, will be included on the film’s companion CD. The contest is going on now at ccMixter.org.

Drawing from more than fifty interviews with prominent musicians, artists, scholars, lawyers, and music industry representatives, Copyright Criminals looks at the development of sound collage (also known as sampling). The film explores the complicated impact that copyright law has had on the creative practice of sampling and studies the conflicting opinions artists and others have about appropriation.

Samples of dialogue by artists like De La Soul, DJ Qbert, Matmos, Coldcut, and members of Negativland – all taken from interviews conducted for Copyright Criminals – are available online at the popular remix community ccMixter.org for use as source material to be included in entrants’ songs. Entries will be judged by McLeod, Franzen, and author/producer Jeff Chang. Contest rules and details are available at ccMixter.org.

About the judges

Kembrew McLeod is a professor at the University of Iowa and an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. McLeod has written music criticism for Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, and MOJO; and has authored two books, most recently Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity (Doubleday).

Ben Franzen is an Atlanta-based artist who owns an independent production company called Changing Images LLC, which specializes in video, photography, and multimedia. Franzen edits the animated TV program Squidbillies, which appears as part of the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim line-up.

Jeff Chang is the author of the American Book Award-winning Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. In 1993, he co-founded and ran the influential indie hip-hop label, SoleSides (now called Quannum Projects), helping launch the careers of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, and Lateef the Truth Speaker. He has helped produce over a dozen records.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the Hewlett Foundation. For more information, visit CC’s Web site.

Contact

Eric Steuer

Creative Director, Creative Commons

Email

Kembrew McLeod

Co-director, Copyright Criminals

Email

Press Kit

FIRST EVER HUNGARIAN CREATIVE COMMONS REMIX CONTEST ANNOUNCED

Mia Garlick, February 15th, 2006

Budapest, Hungary — February 15, 2006

Creative Commons Hungary, a collaboration between Center for Media Research and Education and the nonprofit organization Creative Commons, today announced, together with the band Nomada and Tilos Radio, the first Creative Commons remix competition in Hungary.

The five-member group Nomada was founded by Roma singer-guitarist Balogh Gusztáv in 2003. Nomada’s music is derived from the Hungarian Gypsy tradition in addition to drawing from other musical styles such as Spanish, Arabic and Serbian folk elements.

Nomada have released their song Aven le Roma! – Here come the Roma!, and its component elements, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license which authorizes members of the public to remix it. To be considered as part of the content, remixes must be uploaded to this site by March 31, 2006. Six of the best remixes will be selected by panel of Hungarian and international musicians including DJ Vadim, Szakcsi Lakatos Béla, Mitsou and Dj Palotai.

Balazs Bodo of the CC Hungary project team said “Nomada has its roots in the Roma music tradition where music is ‘free’ as the common heritage of Roma people. The band has created something unique out of this, and by releasing their remix of this tradition under a CC license, they are giving it back to those to whom it belongs: a community where it is kept alive. The only difference is that we have stepped out from the analogue, manual music tradition into the realm of electronic music and digital remixes. Use it, fuse it, diffuse it!”

About The Center for Media Research and Education (MOKK)

The Center for Media Research and Education (MOKK) was founded in 2002 as a joint effort of the Department of Sociology and Communication at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and the leading Hungarian telecommunication company, Hungarian Telecom, with the aim of furthering multi-disciplinary research and education in the field of new media in Hungary. MOKK is built around the conviction that it is impossible to understand the sociocultural effects of new technologies without taking into account their technical foundations and attributes—and equally, that in order to develop successful new media applications one needs to understand the sociocultural context of their use. For more information about MOKK, visit their site.

About Tilos Radio

Tilos Radio is a community, a non-profit radio station in Budapest, Hungary, that was established in 1991, to draw the public’s attention to the fact that there was at that time no legal framework for independent and community broadcasters. During the first years of its broadcasting, Tilos (which means “forbidden” in Hungarian) enjoyed wide public interest and played a key role in the liberalisation of the airwaves in Hungary, which happened in 1995. In 1995, Tilos Radio secured a frequency license and has since transitioned to become a key player in the cultural and lifestyle scene of Budapest.

The services of Tilos are mainly financed by listeners’ donations and the income from fund-raising events, and partly by support from EU programmes, international NGO’s and charity institutions. For more information about Tilos visit their site.

About Creative Commons

A nonprofit corporation founded in 2001, Creative Commons promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network Fund, and the Hewlett Foundation. For general information, visit their site.

Contact

Balazs Bodo (Budapest)

CC Hungary

Email

Christiane Asschenfeldt (Berlin)

Creative Commons International

Email

Press Kit